Dear Esther
by Infinity-Full Metal Slasher
Summary: This has nothing to do with whatever category I put it under, deal with it. *shades*
1. Chapter 1

Dear Esther, I am writing on behalf of fathers will, I have done what he has asked, I have returned to his island. I remember stepping off of the boat, the fog was settled over the landscape like a horrific shroud, and the incessant creaking of the rusting metal of the boat was almost enough to drive a man insane. After I hooked it up to the dock I slung my backpack over my shoulder and began to look around, I don't know why, it was almost impossible to make anything out in the fog. But I could make out the shape of the observatory at the top of the hill, a dead, gloomy aura seemed to be glistening off of it, it was quite an eerie mood. After I stepped off the small dock I sunk my feet in the sand, feeling its cold, dead texture between my toes in my sandals. The air was humid, but it felt cold as much as it felt damp, I set off into the forest shortly after. I will write this letter as I venture to Fathers' lab.

I was shocked at the lack of wild life in the forest, not even a squirrel crossed paths with me. The fog wasn't as heavy in the forest, so I could easily see my destination at the far end of the woods, the cave entrance to his observatory, father did always love his secrecy. But something peculiar caught my attention, occasionally, on a tree trunk, someone carved the chemical composition for Nitrous Oxide, Sulfuric Acid, Nitrogen Dichloride, and other various compositions, I hoped to find the reasons why as I progressed further and further into the woods. As I entered the damp cave, I noticed the Hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen atoms chiseled on the walls with what seems to be with a sharp rock, what possessed any physicist to behave in such a manner was far beyond my understanding. But what I find peculiar is that I haven't seen anyone map out the hyperfine transition for hydrogen since the Voyager and Pioneer space project, I'll look into it. This cave gives me the creeps.

I stumbled upon the steel door, the lock rusted away, so it was quite easy to smash with a rock. The hallway was as dark as a moonless night, thank God for the glow sticks I packed; I snapped 3 and tossed them down the hall, illuminating the path for me. I'll have to find the circuit room and repair the power grid from there if I want any light on this voyage, I hope my experience with engineering can come in handy here, although I'm only a physicist, I'm sure I can manage. The dripping of water can be heard echoing down the hall way, I wish they didn't cut the funding for this observatory…

I arrived at the power grid, the corridors were covered in moss and rust, I can't believe it's been 10 years… anyway, I eventually fixed the power grid, but not without shocking my finger tips constantly. Nothing serious, they're fine now, just a little numb. The lights flicked on, well, most of them anyway, some have sustained water damage and neglect, but it's enough to illuminate most of the rooms and hallways. I found a journal in one of the offices, it was a research log, I'll recite it for you here:

_Log Entry 3/4/92 _

_Dr. Maxwell P. Marshall PHD. (Project New Horizons) _

_Entry 1: 3/18/92 _

_Project New Horizons, I don't think I've ever seen anything presented with such professionalism, this project has lots of potential, let's hope NASA can get the green light from Earth Government, or whatever they preferred, 'EarthGov' I believe. The damn bastards are going to be the death of this facility, I just know it, but what can you do when you're desperate for funding? Anyway, the project was presented with extreme perfection, I'm ecstatic to begin work tomorrow, maybe we can use the 'Spartan Equipment' we created to examine this …_ the next few words are smudged…_ more closely, the magnification of the machinery is quite amazing, the outer shell is constructed of w-BN, or Ionsdaleite, which is a substance 78% denser than Diamonds, Diamonds! It was quite difficult to construct anything with it, unfortunately, but after 3 years we finally did it, I don't know when w-BN will be introduced to the public, but as for now, it's more important that we keep it to ourselves, I may sound selfish for saying this, but we need this for ourselves. I'll write another log entry to summarize our progress._

_Entry 2: 4/2/92_

_Amazing! The 'Spartan Equipment' was launched this morning, hopefully we can get a glimpse of…_smudged again…_ when it reaches its destination in orbit arou- _… it seems only the important information is smudged, maybe they didn't want 'someone' to know 'something'…? Let me see what else I can find down here…_ 'Spartan' won't reach there for another year, unfortunately, it's fuel supply is incredibly large, but still finite none the less, we only need to get it so far before we get a constant speed adjusted, thanks to EarthGov, our technology is more advanced than any country, maybe I was wrong about them… I mustn't think to hard about that, there is too much work to be done, hopefully Dr. Heinz finished the coding for 'Spartan's' software and locaters, maybe we can sneak a peek before it reaches orbit. Maybe. No, we can't risk it, 'Spartan' needs to be steady and slow in orbit before we can use its potential. Progress on Project New Horizons is coming together perfectly; I will continue writing in the journal. _

_Entry 3: 4/3/92_

_That idiot from engineering, what's his name, Mr. Krauser, spilt his coffee on me when he bumped into me in the corridors, the nerve, doesn't he know who I am? Despite the fiasco this morning, I have managed to get quite a good amount of work in, they finished the coding the locaters, we now have a fixed position on 'Spartan', it's just passing… _smudged, of course… _and should reach _…. Smudged… _within the next 10 years, hopefully, it pains me to have to wait this long, but what can you do?_

_Entry 4: 1/21/93_

_Progress of Project New Horizons is great, 'Spartan' is hurdling towards its destination right on schedule, expected arrival time is 9 years, quite a while away, but well worth it, we hope to catch a glimpse of …_ smudged…_ close up, this new world could change everything we thought we knew about the universe, Dr. Heinz finished the coding the software and 'Spartan' is fully operational, but we cannot use it until it arrives and orbits …_smudged…_ in the next decade. I've spent the past year on this god forsaken island, I haven't seen any form of wildlife during the entire 365 days, it's for the best, I suppose, we wouldn't want them interfering with the outside equipment, speaking of which, Dr. Fayge has been tracking the movements of …_ smudged …_ and it's is moving just as predicted, no noticeable irregularities. Everything is still coming together perfectly._

And that was the last journal entry, maybe I can find more as I venture further into the observatory, my voyage continues…


	2. Chapter 2

It seems that I only restored power to this specific wing of the facility. It's no bother; all I need to do is restore the power through each circuit room as I progress. It seems like Father was a part of this, 'Project New Horizons' and I'm searching everything for any more information on what they were working on here. It fascinates me, hopefully I can find a journal with all the information in it, and not smudged. Let's hope, I'm walking down the corridors, it smells like water damage and moss, but beyond that everything seems to be intact. Amazing, such a facility, I've seen plenty of equipment that seems to be beyond what we've been using back in the observatories in Dublin.

I didn't find a log, but I find a small slip of paper: 

_Doctor Marshall, I am disregarding your warnings, 'Spartan' is ready for use NOW and if you try to stop me I will shut down your department, 'Spartan' can handle anything we dish out, it's made of w-BN and I'm not sure if your little aeronautics is familiar with its strength. So why don't you just leave 'New Horizons' with us Astrophysicists? 'Spartan' has just passed Jupiter within its estimated arrival time of a year; look forward to the results tomorrow. It should arrive at Neptune within the next 8 years; expect results, Dr. Marshall, because I'm activating 'Spartan'. From, Doc- _

I'm sorry, Esther, but I'm afraid the note was torn off there, I found this slip of paper protruding from between the pages of a book, a book by Stephen Hawking, I might add. Dr. Marshall was trying to stop the note writer from activating 'Spartan' too soon, apparently, I wonder what 'Spartan' is… or _was_…

This corridor is flooded; the water is freezing as it flows between my toes. I'm glad I'm wearing shorts or this trip would be very uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the power is out in this wing, and I'm running out of glow sticks, the one I'm holding should be enough for me to get to the circuit room and restore the lights, if any are still working, judging by all this water I must be by the shore. A rat scurried across my path, maybe this place isn't as void of life as I thought, and not to mention the rat showed itself in a rather…how should one say 'startling' form. I wasn't expecting it, to say the least…

This circuit room might be a little more problematic then the last… it seems some of these wires have shorted out, I need to find spares, hopefully I'm close to a emergency supply kit, with all the advanced equipment here, I'm sure I'll come across one. This wing has extreme water damage, let's hope my searching is worth it, right?

I found a mysterious hatch, it isn't leaking water, so I assume it isn't underwater, it doesn't look snug enough to be water tight, I want to open it, but I don't know what waits at the other end. Perhaps I'll look into it later. But for now, we need to find replacement circuits.

The bottom of my shorts are soaked, along with my sandals, luckily my backpack is still dry. I found the supply kit! It even had a few glow sticks packed in with the circuits, Thank Goodness. I just know I'm going to need them in the future. But in the room I found the circuits, something peculiar caught my attention, writing on the walls. It was, as the others, written with a sharp rock. It read: **Spartan isn't false, they are alive.** Who? Who is alive? What did 'Spartan' do? Hell if I know, I need to find answers; this is what father wanted me to do! He wants us to find his research! But do what with it? The answer for that question still eludes me, why? It seems like I ask that question a lot, but I guess it's my job as a physicist. And another thing, next to the writing, there was the formula for Helium to Hydrogen conversion, why would anyone need to know that? The only place capable of converting Helium to Hydrogen would be the center of a star. Could 'Spartan' be a machine used to monitor a far off star? And if this is written on the wall, does that mean that whoever wrote that note to Dr. Marshall succeeded in activating 'Spartan' ahead of schedule? These questions keep popping up in my head, but their answers still elude me like a tadpole eludes the eager hands of a young child in a pond… my search continues, I'll rewire the circuit room and search for any clues.

More writing on the walls, I must have missed it my first time venturing through this dark, flooded hallway, I shined my glow stick on it, revealing the distance formula for calculating how far away the star Gliese 581 is from our own sun, does it have something to do with 'Spartan'? Maybe, I would like to start finding more answers then questions, but that goes against the harsh reality that we live in.

Fixed it! I finally fixed it, it wasn't easy rewiring the circuitry by the faint light of a glow stick, but I eventually got it, and it wasn't the best idea, standing shin deep in water fondling electric wires, thank goodness I was careful and didn't get shocked, we would have had some problems. I was right, it turns out most of the lights took water damage, but it still illuminated the hallway well enough to see without a glow stick. I'm going to continue searching for any journals or notes that may help me on this voyage, maybe even check out that hatch I mentioned earlier. I'll continue writing this letter as I continue down this lonely path, for knowledge, for father.


End file.
